The brain-shaped beings are called Bryozoans, and they are actually made up of hundreds of tiny microscopicorganisms called zooids, which can multiply without needing to have sex.

They are known to live further south in areas east of the Mississippi River, but this is the first time they have been spotted in such a northerly area. Recently, they've been discovered for the first recorded time in Stanley Park in Vancouver, according to National Geographic, where a lake called "the Lost Lagoon" has experiencedfalling water levels.

It's believed they may be thriving across North America largely due to climate change. "With warming climate, they might migrate somewhere father north," Ian Walker, a biologyprofessor at the University of British Columbia, told National Geographic.

In 2012, the U.S Fish and Wildlife service theorised that, since the animals can spread only in waters warmer than 16C (60F), climate change might be forcing them north. If that's the case, they could be dangerous for local wildlife by unbalancing the delicate water ecosystem.

However they may have been there in the past and just escaped detection in the once-deeper waters, thanks to their muddy colouring. "We doubt this the first time they've been here," Celina Starnes of the Stanley Park EcologySociety told National Geographic.